Legend Reborn
by zetca
Summary: None know exactly how the Shiki Fuuin works, nor the power it draws on. When used it had an unforseen effect on its user.
1. End of an Era

**Chapter 1: End of an Era**

Deep in the forests of Fire country, there is a shinobi village known as Konohagakure, the village hidden in the leaves. Widely acknowledged as the strongest ninja village, it was the home of many legendary ninjas, including the Sannin; Orochimaru, Tsunade and Jiraiya, and their sensei Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage and God of Shinobi. However, there was a shinobi who stood head and shoulders above the rest. Someone known as possibly the greatest ninja who had ever lived. The only ninja to have had a flee on sight order issued about them, known to have destroyed an entire battalion of enemy ninja in mere seconds singlehandedly. His name is Minato Namikaze, Konoha's Yellow Flash and the Yondaime Hokage.

There are things that even legends have trouble facing however. For the Sannin, they met their match in the leader of Amegakure, Salamander Hanzo. He soundly defeated them, but let them live after being impressed with their skill, and gave them the title of Sannin. For Hiruzen, it had been his sensei, the Niidaime Hokage, Tobirama Senju. For Minato, it was slightly different. His greatest adversary was a tag team of a man wearing an orange mask riding atop the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the greatest of the Biju. The Kyuubi was bad enough in its own right, but it seemed to be being controlled by the bizarre man on its head. What made things worse was that the man also seemed to be able to predict and defend against any attack that Minato could throw at him, even with the help of Gamabunta, the chief toad. Realising he'd have to use the emergency technique he'd developed in case a Biju was released upon Konoha, he used his Hiraishin no jutsu to get his newborn son. When reports of the Kyuubi reached Minato he prepared a last ditch defence, a seal to create a Jinchuuriki. Knowing that the Kyuubi had never been sealed in a Jinchuuriki before, he had to design a seal that drew on the most powerful source of chakra possible, the Shinigami itself. Drawing on the power of a god is hazardous, and the main drawback was that the Shinigami was unlikely to cooperate without a sacrifice. He'd worked in coordination with one of the most knowledgeable toads in Gamatora, a scroll-toad, and they inscribed the workings of the seal on his scroll. The theory behind the seal was to split the Kyuubi's chakra into yin and yang, and permanently seal away the yin half, while leaving the yang half accessible to the host. Unwilling to curse another's child when he could use his own, and believing that his own son would grow up to defend the village against the unknown man, he drew the seal on his own son.

Sending a message toad to the Sandaime with his last order as Hokage, to treat little Naruto Uzumaki as a hero, he activated the jutsu, using his willpower to draw the Kyuubi into the seal on his son. The masked man realized that the battle was lost and used a strange technique to disappear. The last thing Minato saw, as his sight grew dim and he grew ever colder, was the face of his son marred with six whisker marks.

The first thing he knew was the cold. There wasn't a single part of him that didn't feel it. Awareness came slowly, but with it, came more questions. Whatever he was touching was rough. It scratched at his bare skin whenever he moved, causing a sensation he vaguely recognised as pain. He could hear a faint whistling sound that relaxed him and the high pitched chirps of a small bird. He tried to open his eyelids, but reflexively closed them when a bright light hit his eyes. He tried again, this time slowly, allowing his eyes time to adjust. He was curled up in a hollow in a tree, which for some reason was faintly glowing. As he looked around he realised he was naked, and he shouldn't let people see him like that, though he couldn't say why. As he looked out, he realised he was rather high up the tree, and there was a large village bigger than any he'd ever seen before spread out in front of him. Slowly, the sounds of people drifted up to him, laughing and singing and talking. He couldn't make out any recognisable words, but he understood that people were making the noises. A thought slowly lodged itself in his mind, that it would be better to move at night when there were fewer people around and he was less likely to be spotted. Besides, he felt tired and would be better off with rest before he attempted to get down. Upon thinking this his eyes drifted closed once more, and he fell into the darkness once more.

As he woke again, the scenery had changed. The sky had turned from bright blue to black, with small pinpricks of light twinkling here and there. A large crescent bathed the surrounding area with some light, though the tree was giving out a brighter glow. Forcing his body to move, he winced as sharp pain shot up his arms and legs, forcing him to move slower. He stepped out of the hollow onto a nearby branch and started to descend. With every movement, his muscles protested, causing him to stop several times as his breath came out quickly and raggedly. Near the bottom his strength gave out and he fell the rest of the way, landing heavily upon his back. His breath was forced out of him, leaving him gasping for air. After he recovered, he crawled over to a nearby bush, covering himself as best he could before he fell unconscious once more.

As he came to, he immediately knew something was wrong. He was warmer, and could feel something lightly touching his skin. Subconsciously he lay unmoving, letting his other senses detect how many people were in the room. His hearing picked up the breathing patterns of two people, one of whom was asleep and breathing regularly. There was a slight floral scent which grew stronger as sounds of rustling started and got louder. Female then, most likely a nurse or a doctor, which meant he was either in a hospital or a prison cell. Neither sounded particularly appealing right now. The sound of footsteps accompanied the rustling, followed by two soft clicks of a door being opened and closed. As the footsteps grew quieter, he opened his eyes. Light was flowing in through a hole in the wall, covered with glass. A window, or more appropriately, an exit. He saw the figure of a boy not older than fifteen lying in a nearby bed, his head wrapped in bandages. When he saw a face look at him he ducked, only for the face to duck as well. He realised it was a mirror, and he looked into it, seeing spiky blonde hair and bright blue eyes. There was something wrong with the face though, he looked... younger than he expected. For some reason he expected a thirty year old face to stare back at him, not a teenager's. As he moved towards his exit, he realised that most of the boy's clothes were a similar size to him, and while they wouldn't be perfect, they'd at least cover him up. He quickly dressed and as he'd expected, the clothes were too large, hanging around his body rather loosely. He emptied the pockets, finding a square of leather and a cold block. The sound of approaching footsteps startled him, and he realised he had to go. He opened the window and jumped out, landing on his feet and diving into a nearby bush. As he did so, he realised two things. Firstly, the window he'd jumped out of had two more windows underneath it, and was rather high. Secondly, diving into that particular bush was a minor mistake, as it had rather sharp spikes sticking into him. Nevertheless, he burrowed into it, making sure his hair couldn't be seen. He was quickly getting used to pain, and learning to ignore it well. Safely hidden in the bush, he watched as a woman with long blonde hair and glasses looked out, seemingly searching for something, most likely him. When she withdrew her head, he waited a little longer before leaving his temporary haven and making a dash for the tree line.

After running deep into the trees, his survival instincts started screaming at him. He had to disguise himself and turn invisible to the casual observer. He needed new clothes, since whoever looked for him would have a description. He also needed food and water. Well that was easy enough at least. He could hear running water nearby, and so he headed towards it. He stumbled across a decent sized river, the water looking cool and inviting, with fish swimming and jumping. Cupping his hands, he drank deeply of the water; slaking his thirst and making him feel ready to fish. He waded into the shallows, and stood with his hands poised to snag any fish that came too near. He managed to snag four fish in an hour, before deciding that he had enough for the time being. He built a small fire using dry brown wood, and gutted the fish with a sharp rock he found on the riverbank. After devouring the fish, he set about the next important part of his survival strategy, a disguise. For now, all he could really do was change his hair, as it really was too distinctive. Using a mixture of tree sap, blood from the fish, mud and juice from some dark berries he made a temporary brown hair dye that would keep his hair slicked down as long as it didn't get washed away. Applying it was unpleasant, but at least he didn't stand out as much as he did before. The slight odour would also keep people from paying too much attention to him. Feeling more confident now that he wouldn't be spotted easily in a crowd and that he wasn't hungry, he decided to try his luck at getting replacement clothes.

This village was mad! He'd been walking around for about ten minutes and the sheer number of people out was mind-blowing. The shops were heaving with teenage girls and for some reason he was glad he'd changed his hair colour. He had brief flashes of memory; of being followed by hordes of giggling girls. That would be a real pain since he was trying to be as invisible as possible. He snagged a pair of sunglasses in the first shop he visited, his hands moving faster than the untrained eye could follow. They were good for hiding his bright blue eyes, and allowed him to check his surroundings unobtrusively. When he went into a large shop with lots of clothes in it, he noticed they had weird tags on them. Deciding to check a gut instinct, he slipped a pack into a passing boy's bag. He felt slightly guilty when a shrill alarm went off as the boy left, which was washed away when he tried to run and dropped various clothes from the bulky jacket he had on. Using the distraction, he quickly left the store, deciding that there were easier places to acquire clothing.

Two hours later, he was back in the safety of the woods. He'd snagged a dark green top, a blue pullover and a pair of loose black trousers. He'd managed to get turned around at one point and gone a little too near to the building he'd woken in. He'd caught a glimpse of a sign that read 'Mahora Academy' before a dark haired man in a suit and smoking a cigarette exited the building and started walking towards him. He seemed to lose the man easily, but the nagging feeling of being followed started to get to him. It had taken nearly an hour to lose that feeling, and even now he was uneasy. Every instinct he had started screaming at him to keep moving and not to stop until he was far away. Unfortunately, he'd lingered too long, as the man came strolling out of the undergrowth with his hands in his pockets. He tensed to run, but was suddenly hit in the face by an invisible force which sent him sprawling to the floor. He was up in a flash and settled into a basic stance as surprise flickered across the face of his adversary. He was struck by twice more but stayed on his feet, as he noticed that the man didn't seem to move a muscle. Deciding that it would be better to close the distance, he charged forwards trying to get to his opponent, but ran straight into another strike which pushed him back. The man finally pulled his hands from his pockets, and though he felt his instincts scream at him to not get hit, he couldn't react quickly enough. The blast came fast and hard, smashing him clean through one tree and embedding him into another. As the light faded from his vision, he saw the man pull a square from his pocket and talk into it. 'What a disgrace, being beaten by someone obviously insane,' he thought before slipping into unconsciousness for the second time in two days.

Takamichi Takahata had been expecting many things when he'd been asked to track the mysterious blonde boy down. One thing he hadn't expected was for him to have changed his hair colour and clothes, although since he'd seen the boys face he'd be able to find him in a crowd easily no matter of hair colour. Another was not being able to keep up with the boy through the crowds. It wasn't like Takahata was unused to tracking missions, he was actually very good. The boy was exceptional at misdirection and covering his trail, more so than a normal boy. At this point, he'd realised he'd probably have to use force to bring him in. The biggest shock was that after leading him on a merry chase for an hour, the boy had been about to leave when he used his former master's technique, using the motion similar to an iaido sword drawing technique to launch sheer air pressure at the opponent. The boy had stood up instantly, which cemented Takahata's theory that he wasn't normal, and he settled into a martial arts stance that he didn't recognise. This was surprising in itself, since after travelling with the Thousand Master he recognised most martial arts. When the boy took another two strikes without so much as flinching, he knew he'd have to use his more dangerous technique to put him down. Using the strike when the boy charged towards him to throw him back, he took his hands out of his pockets so he could use his kanka technique. Mixing magic power and chi, he created a large blast that took the boy off his feet. Kanka wasn't exactly the best technique to use to capture someone, but he had a feeling that the boy could take it. He was proved right when the boy was still conscious after being smashed through a tree, albeit momentarily. He opened his phone to report success to the headmaster, and set about carrying the boy back to the school.

He woke slowly. As he came to, he realised he was back in the same bed he'd left when he'd escaped. There was one main difference however. This time he was bound to the bed, preventing an escape like last time. There was also a person in the room who wasn't moving, most likely a guard. Realising he had no choice, he opened his eyes to see an old man staring at him. The man had an oddly shaped head with a long ponytail at the back, thick bushy eyebrows which framed his face, a large moustache and a rather impressive beard. All of his hair was white and he was rather old. His ear lobes were unnaturally long and had large hoop earrings in them. At a casual glance he seemed to be a kindly old man who posed no threat. However, there was a glint in his eyes that promised pain to any who wronged him, and he gave off a feeling of knowledge. This was a man to be wary of, so he was most likely in charge of the place.

The old man cleared his throat, then said, "Ah good, you're awake. Takamichi-kun told me that you provided him with some entertainment when he came after you, so I'm afraid we had to restrain you, just in case you tried to escape again before we could have a chat. So, what is your name?"

Silence greeted this statement. The old man tried again, "Come now, we know you don't belong here. You have a rather unique appearance, despite your admirable attempts to change how you look. No-one has seen you before, and there are no records of anyone with your appearance on our files. I think you are lost, if your reaction to being in the nurse's office is any indication. We just want to help you."

The silence continued as the boy weighed the man's words. The old man gave one last try, "Well, my name is Konoemon Konoe. I am the headmaster here at Mahora Academy."

With this, the boy made up his mind. "My name... is Minato Namikaze."

"Well now, that's better. So Minato-kun, where do you come from, and how did you get here?"

"I hail from Konohagakure, and I have no idea how I got here. All I know is that I woke up naked in a hollow on that giant glowing tree."

"The World Tree hmm? Well, this is a problem. The glow only happens once a year, and I'm afraid I've never heard of Konohagakure before. Whereabouts is it?"

"Deep in the forests of Fire Country, though I can't say exactly where. It wouldn't be a hidden village if we were allowed to speak too openly of it."

"True enough. We really have a major problem though. Fire country no longer exists. It hasn't for millennia, and the borders are impossible to point out anymore. I will need research this. If you would please refrain from trying to escape again, it would be appreciated. You are welcome to stay here for now, though we may give you a different room tomorrow just in case anyone gets injured. Is that ok?"

"I don't really have much choice, do I? I'll stay for now."

"Ho ho. Not really. By the way, how did you managed to escape Takamichi-kun for so long? He is one of our better trackers."

"I'm a ninja. Moving unseen and stealth are second nature to me."

"Ho ho. You certainly move like one. A skilled ninja at such a young age. I must say I'm impressed."

With that, the headmaster left the room, more than slightly troubled by how this boy arrived. He resolved to contact the ninja clans to see if they had ever heard of Konohagakure.

Minato lay on the bed, thinking about what he'd heard. If Konoemon could be believed, he was in the future. That at least explained the weird metal boxes that moved on their own, and all of the moving pictures. But how did he get here?

**Merry Christmas! This is another potential fanfic that I thought up. I may turn this into a full work, but I could do with some feedback. This is currently set 6 months before the start of Negima. And yes, I do have a reason for de-aging Minato. It's going to be fun to write, that's for sure. So, three separate updates as a Christmas present. Am I nice or what?**

**If you recognise it, I don't own it.**


	2. Dawn of a New Day

Dawn of a New Day

The headmaster was slightly wary of the young boy they'd caught. He'd appeared out of nowhere, he had some connection to the World Tree, and he was skilled at evading pursuit and taking damage. Not to mention that Takamichi had gone in slightly too hot-headed. At least the boy seemed amicable enough, and was polite enough to answer his questions. Namikaze Minato... the name was familiar, as if he should remember the name. Saying he was a ninja as well. That was unlikely, since he couldn't sense any chi energy around the boy. Yet Minato had evaded Takamichi very well, had changed his hair colour using only what he could find in the woods, and had taken a few strikes from Takamichi without being knocked out. Maybe there was something to his claim. He could tell that this boy was going to give him a headache.

Minato stayed in the restraints for two days, being told by the nurse that he needed bed-rest to allow them to fully heal him. His reflexes, speed and strength had all been dulled from atrophy of his muscles, and his chakra had been almost completely drained. The magic she used meant he was feeling fine, although the major problem for shinobi in hospitals had arisen. He was BORED! He'd been given several maps, some of which showed the surrounding area and some which showed the wider world. If they could be believed, the land he knew had changed beyond recognition. Parts of Fire and Water countries must've sunk, while more land had appeared.

When he slept, flashes of memories came to him. He saw a building with a play area outside. A room filled with children about five or six years old, with a wide variety of hair colours and facial markings. A black haired man wearing a green flak jacket and black trousers making hand signs and changing into someone completely different. A blue haired woman making different hand signs and changing places with a log. A pair of black eyes changing to blood red with three black tomoes in each one. And the terrifying growl of a monstrous fox with nine tails weaving behind it was the last thing he saw before waking up covered in a cold sweat. His arms had been released, and he'd been allowed pen and paper so he could take notes. The problem with this was that Minato is not only a ninja, he's a seal master. They'd made a mistake when they'd brought him back by using force before reason, and binding him to the bed. A bigger mistake was to leave him with maps, writing materials and free hands. The biggest mistake was leaving him plenty of time alone. Giving a seal master time to prepare is a mistake that most people only make once, mostly because very few survive the experience. Seal masters can make their seal do almost anything, from blowing up large areas to sealing beings away. Despite not remembering much of his past, once he touched the paper he had flashbacks to some of the more... inventive seals he'd come across. Minato now had a plan to escape, and was ready to put it in place.

"Fire country? Konohagakure? Hmm, let me think for a second," mused a large, black-suited, grey-haired man. His name was Daisukenojo Nagase, head of the Nagase ninja clan. "Some of our oldest legends speak of a time when ninjas lived in hidden villages. Fire country was one of the superpowers of its day, strong economy, terrifying military. It is said that they never lost a war they fought in, and yet they didn't repress the civilians. Now, why did you need me to tell the ancient stories, as they are millennia old?"

The headmaster had been sat quietly listening to Nagase, but now he stirred himself. "Well Nagase-dono, a young man was found near the world tree, and claimed to be from Konohagakure. He called himself Minato Namikaze and he had blonde hair and piercing blue eyes."

"The description does remind me of one of the greatest legends. A being known only as the Flying Thunder God. He was the greatest warrior who was ever known, killing armies in the blink of an eye and making cities of stone crumble at the mere mention of his name. He was the first known student of a toad-man, calling thunder storms, hurricanes and tidal waves to defeat his enemies. He became the patron god of Fire when he defeated the circle of snakes and the monkey king. He was supposedly defeated when the god of demons assaulted his domain, and he sacrificed himself to destroy it, appealing to the only being stronger than him, the Shinigami himself. However, here's where things get a little fuzzy. Some say he was sealed in the Shinigami's stomach, bound so he could no longer affect the world of man. Others say he roamed the land as a spirit, taking down demons when they should appear, all the while being on the leash of the Shinigami with a symbol on his stomach so that all knew who he belonged to."

"So this legendary being is definitely dead then?" asked the headmaster, eyes narrowed. "It's not like he suddenly vanished and no-one knows where he went?"

"Seeing as though he either gave his soul to the Shinigami, or defeated a demon of the void and was sentenced to burn in the shadows forever in the afterlife, I'd say he was certainly dead."

"So I wonder who he is to know about Fire country. It's not common knowledge. Some kind of..." the headmaster suddenly snapped his head around and stared towards the nurse's office. A glint appeared in his eyes, "He's gone. Somehow he's escaped his bindings and breached the wards I put on his room. I'm sorry Nagase-dono, I need to find him."

It began with a chair. An ordinary, boring, metal and plastic chair, the kind that graces offices and schools everywhere. The chair was just staying still, waiting for a chance to rest a weary person, when it was suddenly yanked away and placed in a bed, with pieces of paper stuck to it. If it had eyes and tear ducts it would have cried. Instead it stood stoically, surveying the world from its new vantage point. In its original place stood Minato, refreshed and ready to unleash his mastery of the shinobi arts upon the world. A simple Kawarimi technique was all that was needed to escape the bindings. Apparently, ninjas had been underestimated greatly since the last time he could remember, as he'd escaped from harder paper bags.

After preparing the room for the arrival of his "hosts", he was gone, leaving via the window once more. This time however, he didn't need to stop and swiftly made his way out of Mahora, applying a Henge to himself to make sure he wouldn't be recognised. He briefly bemoaned the fact he couldn't watch the mayhem that was bound to occur when his hosts made their way into his room. Ah well, sometimes the small pleasures in life must be forsaken for the greater good.

Now that he had an idea of the surrounding area, he headed straight across the mountains, leaving no possible trail to follow, memories surfacing about his time as a shinobi. He remembered tracking a group of enemies who had taken a red haired girl hostage. He'd followed them by the hairs the girl had left behind, as they had left no other trail. He shook his head, now was not a good time to be distracted by random memories, he needed to find a safe place to get his head in order. This Kyoto seemed to be an even larger village than Mahora, so it would be a much better place to hide and it would be easier to blend into a crowd.

The headmaster was kicking himself. He'd been lured in by the cooperative attitude of Minato, trusting that now things had been explained to him, he'd be content to stay there until they were sure he wasn't going to be trouble, especially after giving him the maps he'd asked for. Now they had a person of unknown ability loose on campus, one who was extremely dangerous if they could force Takamichi to use his Kanka technique with their body nowhere near 100 percent. Shizuna had been astounded at the level of muscle degradation Minato had shown. Apparently it was on par with that of a long term coma patient, meaning that if he could still move around at a normal pace, his speed and strength must be far above normal. There was no way anyone would use someone so injured as an infiltrator, but now he'd gone there was no chance to apologise or explain.

Takamichi had been alerted about the mysterious boy's disappearance because he had been keyed into the wards. The headmaster had reasoned that since he'd beaten the boy before, he could beat him again if the need arose. A sound theory, but one that didn't take into account the fact that the boy was so weakened beforehand. Takamichi was wary of the boy, wary because the boy had taken several of his iaiken blows and a kanka blast without being magical to his finely tuned senses, wary because the boy had acted like a seasoned infiltrator when he had believed himself to be followed, but mostly he was wary because of his eyes. When the boy had settled into his stance back in the forest, his eyes had lost their innocent appearance and been replaced with the eyes of a battle hardened veteran. This boy had seen more than someone of his age should have, faced things that no teenager should ever face. When he had taken the iaiken blows without flinching, it told him that the boy was used to dealing with pain to accomplish his objectives. To see that in a boy so young, it was disturbing. He made a mental note to not call him boy to his face, to someone who had those eyes, it was an insult of the highest order. Rounding the corner, he came across the headmaster opening the door to the infirmary.

As he turned the handle, the headmaster couldn't shake a feeling of unease from lodging itself in the pit of his stomach. Ignoring it as best he could, he opened the door to find a chair standing on the bed which formerly housed Minato, wrapped in the restraints that had held him. A piece of paper was folded up on the chair, with DO NOT OPEN written on it. Shaking his head, the headmaster extended his senses to make sure it was safe, and when the room was proved clear of any magic, he moved to the chair and opened the note, briefly noticing that Takamichi had followed him in and was standing at his shoulder. The note was short and to the point. It said, 'I have escaped your pathetic excuse for a prison and decided to leave the area. Don't waste your time trying to find me. Namikaze Minato.' Below the writing, there was a drawing of a chibi Minato with its tongue sticking out and its hand in a victory sign. Below this was some small writing which said, 'PS, if you are reading this, you chose to ignore the warning on the note. BIG mistake.' As soon as this was read, both the headmaster and Takamichi tried to turn, activating hidden seals on the floor which froze them in place. A series of seals on the walls activated, first launching glue at the frozen duo, swiftly followed by a snowstorm of feathers. When they resembled nothing more than giant chickens, a pair of forced summoning seals attached them to the gates, where a pair of seals attached themselves to the back of their necks, unfreezing them but making any noise to come out of their mouths sound like a chicken's squawking. Naturally, the noise attracted the attention of people passing by, causing them to collapse into helpless heaps of laughter. This of course attracted more attention, until what felt like half of Mahora was laughing at the helpless pair. Just as they thought it couldn't get any worse, a flash of light drew their attention to the figure of a girl in Mahora's uniform, with spiky red hair and an armband with the words 'School Press' written upon it. Under the feathers, their faces paled when she lowered the camera as they both recognised the grinning girl as Kazumi Asakura, resident journalist of class 2A, Takamichi's homeroom. They knew that she would use that photograph to write a story for the school paper, and their humiliation would be complete. They were doomed to spend their days being the target of jokes from their colleagues. Doomed to endure the sniggering of students as they walked past. Doomed until the next scandal came along to distract the student body... which would probably be in a week's time knowing Mahora, but still they were DOOMED.

It took half an hour, three fire crews (the first two had joined in with the laughter and were unable to move let alone help), five ambulances (several people had problems with 'hilarity induced pulmonary complications' to quote one paramedic), six police units (who'd come to break up the crowd, but had to watch the proceedings themselves while attempting not to smile) and one enraged Asuna Kagurazaka (who'd sworn swift and bloody vengeance upon whoever had the audacity to execute such a heinous crime against the great and wonderful Takahata-sensei) to get the duo down from their perches, and approximately ten seconds for them to be safely locked away in their private quarters attempting to rid themselves of their new look. Unfortunately, the glue was chakra based, meaning it was a good deal stronger than usual. This resulted in several agonizing minutes of plucking the feathers from their exposed skin, and several hours attempting to remove their feather encrusted clothing. The seals on their necks were removed by Nijuuin, the resident curse breaker over the course of three hours. During this time, the headmaster resolved to let Minato go. If he had wanted either of them dead, he could've easily replaced the glue and feathers with any number of painful spiky objects or highly concentrated acids. He didn't think sending Takamichi after him again was a good idea, and he refused to put the next best tracker they had through whatever hideous traps he was bound to set up, especially since it was a school girl named Mei Sakura. 'No, better to quit while we still have a shred of dignity left, and to not turn the boy against us,' he thought, though resolving to have his people keep an eye out for the mysterious blonde.

Minato made his way through the crowds of Kyoto, employing the ninja arts in one of their most useful forms. Pick pocketing. His quick hands meant that no-one even noticed when he reached in, stole a few notes and put the wallet or purse back. He stole a little money from many people as they are less likely to make a fuss than if they are missing their entire wallet. Having spent a week in the wilderness surviving on the bare essentials, he'd decided it was safe enough to move into the crowded city. There were no signs of pursuit, which indicated that his little message had been received and understood. He was collecting money so he could rent out a little apartment, giving himself a place to rest and attempt to figure out what happened to him

When he'd gathered enough money for a month's rent of a single apartment, he paid for it and started preparing defensive measures. He used the stasis seals he'd used in his prank against the headmaster as a first line of defence against would be thieves. If anyone entered without his express permission, they'd activate and ensnare them until Minato released them. With the initial defences activated, he felt safe enough to finally meditate and enter his mindscape.

He found himself standing by a shattered sky blue crystal, with only the core of the crystal remaining intact. A shadowy tanto had been embedded deep into the crystal from the top, and the broken shards had seemingly been scattered around the depths of his mind. When Minato touched the core, he saw glimpses of his dreams once more. He realised that this crystal was a representation of his mind, the core being his personality and self awareness, while the shards represented all of his other memories such as his techniques, his experiences and his loved ones. The tanto however was not a natural part of his mind, and seemed to be the cause of the damage. Removing the tanto would probably mean that his mind would start to heal quicker on its own. Steeling himself, he reached out to touch the shadowed blade, but as soon as his fingers touched it he was violently thrown away from it. Apparently whatever the tanto represented was not ready to be confronted yet. Sighing, he exited his mindscape, disheartened by what he'd found. It would take months, maybe even years to find all of the fragments of his memories, and even then there may be some that slip through the cracks. Until that tanto was removed, any fragments he recovers would form a patchwork rather than slotting together correctly, meaning his mind would be fragile and vulnerable to any attacks. 'Ah well, time to get to work...' he thought.

**Nine months later - Mahora Academy**

Headmaster Konoe Konoemon was reviewing the latest reports in the search for Minato Namikaze, or rather was being frustrated by the lack of results. 'Either he's disappeared as bizarrely as he appeared in the first place, or he's hiding in a place where we can't go. Very few magic organisations don't cooperate with us, so he's most likely in South America which has so many organisations that he could bounce between them and no-one would notice, or he could be in the Kansai Magic Association's area of jurisdiction. South America is more likely so I'll send Takamichi-kun to get an idea, but as for Kansai...' His thoughts trailed off when he received a request from class 2-A to spend their school trip in Kyoto. This could be an opportunity to end the tensions between the organisations, and to possibly find the blonde enigma. He pressed the button on his intercom and said, "Shizuna-sensei, could you please bring Seruhiko-sensei to my office? I need to discuss something with him before I sort out Negi-sensei's request."

**And chapter end. Bit of a time-skip at the end there but nothing too drastic. Sorry it's taken so long to get out, but I've reworked this chapter again and again, taken a break from it, come back and with it again. Ah well. Hopefully in this chapter you see just why Minato lost against Takamichi, I've tried to make it believable. Updates will be irregular, in case you couldn't guess with this coming out nine months after the first chapter, but hopefully it won't take as long this time. Now with added line breaks.  
**

**Lastly, if the state of my finances is anything to go by, I'm not making money from this. So I apparently don't own Mahou Sensei Negima or Naruto. Who knew?**


End file.
